The objective of this standards-based lesson is to help students learning English as a second language develop their skills verbally by turning their everyday lives into a story which they could present to the class. This lesson does an excellent job of depicting the standards expressed in standard W-K-4.1, which states, "Students organize and relate a story line/plot/series of events by...Using pictures to create an understandable story line, when given pictures (pictures may include labels)" (NECAP, 2008). This lesson also does a good job explaining standard OC-K-1 and OC-K-2.
II. The Learning Environment
The children are set up in a circle, sitting with their legs crossed, facing the teacher. Positioned next to the teacher is a board lined with large papers for the her to write on. At the beginning of this video, the teacher takes one of the students from the front and positions him next to her so the students can concentrate on both of them.
The children are mostly seen sitting on the floor, the room is split in the middle for a pathway. There is redtape outline a large square and the children know to sit inside the square with their legs crossed. When they weren't sitting on the rug, the children were often at the tables which were all different shapes, in small groups, closely working together.
III. The Learning Activities
Throughout the lesson the children are involved in many learning activities. From the start of the day the children are broken up into small groups and each given a certain task such as the question board of the day and independent reading. This enhances not only their reading skills and oral language development but gives them a sense of being needed because they are assigned certain jobs and know that they must get them done. Once the day begins, a poem is read and the children are again broken up into small groups called "learning centers." They have certain tables such as the sensory table which is when the children are working hands on with something that deals with the poem. Another learning center is called the writing center. Here the children get experience with writing by writing Valentine's cards. There is also the ABC center and the arts and crafts center, in the ABC center the children see the picture of a dragon and have to sound it out in order to spell it and at the craft center the children are actively engaged in making a dragon out of a milk carton. All of these activities are dealing with the lesson of the day, the Valentine's poem and the story about a Chinese rice cake.
There is a story-telling time in the classroom. At this time each child will sit at the front of the class with the teacher and tell her a story and then write it and draw a picture of it. This develops their oral language through their story telling and experiences in the classroom, it helps them by repeating their story to themself, to their classmates and to the teacher.
IV. Personal Reflections
I think this exercise really allows the English as a Second Language students to enhance their ability to conceive and understand this new language because they, as a group, are learning to put their newly acquired words into action. Allowing them to tell a story of their life allows them to apply English to their daily lives. As they progress and develop as young children, they are able to, at the same time, develop and progress their use and understanding of the English language. - jlman2006
I feel that this lesson and the way the teacher presented it was an excellent way to not only engage the students in practing their oral language but she also incorperated the students who had English and as second language. She often referred to those students by asking them questions and seeing if they knew certain words in Chinese. This not only helps those particular children keep their primary language alive but enhances the learning abilities of the English as a first language students. I was very surprised at their level of understanding and how the classroom was very organized. The children knew the daily routines, knew how to do them, and how to do them right. - abby_lv
Title: Building Oral Language
Authors:
1. John Manning2. Abby Vaughn
I. Standard Benchmark(s) and Learning Objective
The objective of this standards-based lesson is to help students learning English as a second language develop their skills verbally by turning their everyday lives into a story which they could present to the class. This lesson does an excellent job of depicting the standards expressed in standard W-K-4.1, which states, "Students organize and relate a story line/plot/series of events by...Using pictures to create an understandable story line, when given pictures (pictures may include labels)" (NECAP, 2008). This lesson also does a good job explaining standard OC-K-1 and OC-K-2.II. The Learning Environment
The children are set up in a circle, sitting with their legs crossed, facing the teacher. Positioned next to the teacher is a board lined with large papers for the her to write on. At the beginning of this video, the teacher takes one of the students from the front and positions him next to her so the students can concentrate on both of them.The children are mostly seen sitting on the floor, the room is split in the middle for a pathway. There is redtape outline a large square and the children know to sit inside the square with their legs crossed. When they weren't sitting on the rug, the children were often at the tables which were all different shapes, in small groups, closely working together.
III. The Learning Activities
Throughout the lesson the children are involved in many learning activities. From the start of the day the children are broken up into small groups and each given a certain task such as the question board of the day and independent reading. This enhances not only their reading skills and oral language development but gives them a sense of being needed because they are assigned certain jobs and know that they must get them done. Once the day begins, a poem is read and the children are again broken up into small groups called "learning centers." They have certain tables such as the sensory table which is when the children are working hands on with something that deals with the poem. Another learning center is called the writing center. Here the children get experience with writing by writing Valentine's cards. There is also the ABC center and the arts and crafts center, in the ABC center the children see the picture of a dragon and have to sound it out in order to spell it and at the craft center the children are actively engaged in making a dragon out of a milk carton. All of these activities are dealing with the lesson of the day, the Valentine's poem and the story about a Chinese rice cake.There is a story-telling time in the classroom. At this time each child will sit at the front of the class with the teacher and tell her a story and then write it and draw a picture of it. This develops their oral language through their story telling and experiences in the classroom, it helps them by repeating their story to themself, to their classmates and to the teacher.
IV. Personal Reflections
I think this exercise really allows the English as a Second Language students to enhance their ability to conceive and understand this new language because they, as a group, are learning to put their newly acquired words into action. Allowing them to tell a story of their life allows them to apply English to their daily lives. As they progress and develop as young children, they are able to, at the same time, develop and progress their use and understanding of the English language. -I feel that this lesson and the way the teacher presented it was an excellent way to not only engage the students in practing their oral language but she also incorperated the students who had English and as second language. She often referred to those students by asking them questions and seeing if they knew certain words in Chinese. This not only helps those particular children keep their primary language alive but enhances the learning abilities of the English as a first language students. I was very surprised at their level of understanding and how the classroom was very organized. The children knew the daily routines, knew how to do them, and how to do them right. -
SBLD - Oral Language F08